Elizabeth Hoyt: Notorious pleasures, Scandalous desires ja Thief of shadows

Elizabeth Hoytin viihteellisessä Maiden Lane -romaanisarjassa on ilmestynyt toistakymmentä teosta, jotka limittyvät löyhästi toisiinsa henkilöhahmojen ja tapahtumapaikkojen osalta. Hoyt osaa kirjoittaa sujuvasti, mutta melkoisen viihteellisiä ovat romaanien juonenkulut, ja oikeastaan voisi sanoa supersankarityyppisiksi joitakin kirjojen juonenkäänteistä.

Notorious pleasures (Piatkus, 2011; ISBN 978-0-7499-5445-1)

Their lives were perfect ...until they met each other.

Lady Hero Batten is perfect, well-mannered and beautiful with an impeccable pedigree. After years of waiting for a gentleman to sweep her off her feet, she has decided to do her duty and settle for a proper society marriage to Thomas Remmington, the Marquess of Mandeville. True, the marquis is a trifle dull and lacks a sense of humour, but he is handsome and rich. Griffin Remmington, Lord Greyson, the Marquess' younger brother, is not at all perfect. In fact, some have called him the most notorious rake in London.

When Griffin meets Hero he thinks that she is much too intelligent for society, let alone his brother. Their duel of words soon sparks a fire in them both, despite the fact that Hero's marriage to Thomas is drawing ever nearer.

Scandalous desires (Piatkus, 2011; ISBN 978-0-7499-5450-5)

Can a pirate learn that the only true treasure lies in a woman's heart?

Widowed Silence Hollingbrook is impoverished, lovely, and kind - and nine months ago she made a terrible mistake. She went to a river pirate for help in saving her husband and in the process made a bargain at the cost of her marriage. That night wounded her so terribly that Silence hides in the foundling home she runs with her brother. Except now that same river pirate is back ... and he's asking for her help.

'Charming' Mickey O'Connor is the most ruthless river pirate in London. Devastatingly handsome and fearsomely intelligent, he clawed his way up through London's criminal underworld. Mickey has no use for tender emotions like compassion and love, and he sees people as pawns to be manipulated. And yet he's never been able to forget the naive captain's wife who came to him when she was most in need.

Thief of shadows (Piatkus, 2012; ISBN 978-0-7499-5814-5)

When society widow, Lady Isabel Beckinhall, becomes involved with the Home for Unfortunate Infants and Foundling Children, she soon clashes with its manager, Winter Makepeace, whom she finds severely monastic, terribly solemn ... and quite distractingly intriguing.

And Winter does have a secret: at night he transforms into the masked avenger, the Ghost of St Giles. After the infamous Ghost of St Giles is wounded while rescuing a notorious pirate from the gallows, Isabel has no choice but to hide him from a ravenous mob, though doesn't discover his identity.

Winter is haunted by this glimpse of the tender - and sensuous - side of Lady Beckinhall, though he knows that they are too far apart socially to ever be together. But when a relentless dragoon captain begins hunting the Ghost of St Giles, Winter must decide if he can trust his secret, his life - and his heart - to Isabel's hands.